‘Massive’ – Gareth McAuley raves about Rangers ace who’s up there with ‘Iconic figure’
Gareth McAuley has paid tribute to Alfredo Morelos after the Rangers striker equalled Ally McCoist’s European goal record at Ibrox.
Morelos, 22, netted his 21st goal in European football for the Light Blues on Thursday night when he came off the bench to score in the 1-0 win over Lech Poznan.
It was a superb header by Morelos to win the match at Ibrox and Steven Gerrard rewarded the Colombia international with a sport in his starting line-up at Kilmarnock on Sunday.
Although Morelos didn’t score as James Tavernier’s first-half penalty proved to be the decisive goal in the 1-0 win at Rugby Park, McAuley is fond of the strength in depth that Gerrard has among his attacking options.
“Alfredo always seems to score goals. He scored the winner the other night against Lech Poznan to equal Ally McCoist’s European record of 21 goals,” the former Gers defender told the Sunday Post.
“That is a massive achievement and credit to Alfredo.
“To be up there with an iconic figure such as Ally is great. It shows the standard he is setting.
“I’m sure Jermain has played his part. At 38, he still has plenty left in the tank, and he’ll be helping Alfredo and Kemar [Roofe] every day.
“To have all of them contributing goals shows the depth in the Rangers squad. It’s impressive.
“They are all capable of scoring goals, and regardless of who the manager opts to start with against Kilmarnock, he knows there will be goals there.”
Morelos and Cedric Itten both started against Killie with Itten playing more of a wide role in the attack with Morelos down the middle.
On the bench, Gerrard had Defoe and Roofe at his disposal too.
None of the forwards scored against Kilmarnock as Rangers’ defence was the thing that really shone in the victory.
But it’s brilliant for the Gers that most of their strikers are firing on all cylinders at the moment and scoring big goals.
Roofe scored that wonder goal against Standard Liege from his own half before Defoe netted a stunner in the win over Livingston last Sunday.
Morelos, of course, got his goal in Europe on Thursday to win the match against Poznan.
In other Rangers news, Connor Goldson was blown away by this “unbelievable” Gers team-mate.